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The Treasures Of The Musical Heritage

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In ancient Greek societies, music was definitely one of the most consequential ways of utterance in their societies. Greek mythology glorifies the richness and variety of the Greek music and instruments in many legends. Music was a way for Greeks themselves, to exemplify their religious rituals and traditions. We can have an idea of the impacts music had, in all aspects of their lives. Music was a part of many events, rituals, and even played huge rolls in education. This essay will look at the treasures of the musical heritage described in Greek mythology and other writings from ancient Greece, the development of the lyre and the kithara, as two of the most widely used instruments during this time, the talented musicians that created …show more content…

“Sparta, Argos and Paros held the earliest such competitions from the 7th century BCE. In Hellenistic times, musical festivals and competitions became so common that musicians and performing artists began to organize themselves into guilds”(Cartwright, M.). There were two types of music competitions during this time. They were the stephanotis, which was more of a scared competition, and chremites, which was a competition where the winners won prizes. Music not only plays a huge part in celebrations and competitions, but it also was used a lot in schools. Gretans, were the first to create schools that were dedicated to musical education. “The heyday of music in the classroom was during the 6th and 5th centuries BCE when schools of music were established in Athens where pupils aged between thirteen and sixteen were taught to play the lyre and kithara and to sing, accompanied by their teacher on the aulos”(Cartwright, M.). Just as we see the rise in music being taught in schools, we also see a rise in the creation of instruments. The instruments in ancient Greece consisted of string, wind and percussion instruments. There were two instruments that were used by majority of musicians. These two instruments are the aulos and the syrinx. The aulos, “was also known as the kalamos or libykos lotos, which referred to the material from which part of the instrument was made: respectively, the

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